Light for Smoke, Section 25
SECT. XXV. The Magiſtrates aſsiſtance to the Eccleſiaſticall Government, no argument to prove it no Gospel Government; the ſword of God and of Gideon, of Church Diſcipline, and civill ſeveritie, how lawfull and uſefull; zeale againſt toleration of evill commended connivence at it blameable.
Smoke. Pag. 57. YOu ſay you cannot divide diſcipline from his aſsiſtance who can make it effectuall, that is, from the Magiſtrate, this is a ſigne without further argument, that you doe not hold your government for Chriſts, becauſe it cannot be effectuall of it ſelfe without helpe below.
Light.Here as in many other places you ſhew little ingenuitie in repeating my words, which are not as you cite them; but thus,eExamination of the New Quere. Sect. 12. pag. 42. We cannot thinke it meet to divide ſubſervient meanes from the ſupreme power, nor the exerciſe of Diſcipline, and government from his Aſſiſtance who can make it effectuall, that is, (ſay you) from the Magiſtrate; and that is, ſay I, your maledicta gloſſa which corrupts the Text; my words import not the inferiour efficacy of the Magiſtrate, but the ſuperiour of God; and therefore your inference upon it is a ſecond injury, and violence you commit againſt my ſaying and ſence; and yet though the Diſcipline be Chriſts, we muſt crave the conſent and ſanction of the Civill Magiſtrates, that we may put it in practice, as the Presbyterians of the Dutch and French Churches in London; and with their aſſiſtance it may be more effectuall then without it it can be, as the Magiſtrates antheritie may have a more awfull operation upon the people if aſſiſted by the Miniſters in their Sermons, and popular exhortations; and yet you will not deny but that Magiſtracy is the ordinance of God, Rom. 13.1.
Smoke. Pag. 57. Nor is the ſword of God and Gideon any faire, or iuſt proofe for ioyning Preſbytery and Magiſtracy, it onelyonly ioynes God and the Magiſtrates.
Light.I joyne the ſword of God and Gideon, not as a proofe for uniting Presbytery and Magiſtracy, but as an illuſtration of aſſociation of different meanes to the ſame end, or of concurrent operations to the ſame purpoſe; and yet if the cauſe of God in the hands of the Presbytery doe need, and have aide in the hand of the Magiſtrate to help it forward, there the ſword of the Spirit, which is the ſword of the Lord, in the mouth of his Miniſters, and the ſword of Gideon, that is, the ſword of the Magiſtrate, may be ſaid to be joyned.
Smoke. Pag. 57. You ſay your godly it alouſie will ſet up as many ſecurities as may be. But then they are warrantable and Gospel wayes of ſecuritie; that is no godly iealouſie which ſets up other wayes, as Herod killing all the young children to ſecure his kingdome, David diſſembling to eſcape, Iacob to get a bleſsing.
Light.To that you ſaid;fNew Quere. pag. 8. It is the Papiſts and Prolates iealouſie to keep up their ſuppoſed truths by ſuſpecting every thing that appeares for an enemy: My Anſwer was;gExamination of the New Quere. Sect. 12. pag. 42. There is a iealouſie which the Apoſtle cal… godly iealouſie, and ſuch a one is that which would ſet up as many ſecurities as may be againſt hereſie, and impiety; among them Church-government is one; of which, they that ſtand for it are not afraid to let it go… abread, but have made it publique, and expoſed it to the view of all eyes. To this you put in a Reply with a condition of warrantable and Goſpel wayes of ſecuritie, and an exception of wicked wayes, ſuch as Herods killing all the young children, &c. I inſtanced onelyonly in the Church-government, which the Presbyterians propound, and plead for as a Goſpel way; you bring in Herods bloody buſineſſe, as if there were neere conſanguinitie betwixt the Presbytery and his barbarous crueltie; this is (though not to ſlay innocents as he did yet) to wound and blaſt innocence, as much as may be, and to bring it under an evill ſuſpicion to make it odious; this is no Goſpel way Mr. Sa…m. but a very wide aberration from it.
Smoke. Pag. 57. You ſay that ſome feare Gods anger for communion with heretiques, &c. you know all ſuch feare is onelyonly warrantable in the Church, not in the world; you have liberate to withdraw and ſeparate, as they from you; if it be nationall or civill communion, then you plucke up the tares before the time of harveſt.
Light.You ſtill give me cauſe to complaine of your unfaithfull dealing with my words, by ſuch alteration, or omiſſion of them as may make them more obvious to your exception, then as I ſet them downe, for they are thus in my Booke;aExam. of the New Quere. Sect. 12. p. 43. But there is it feare which we profeſſe, and I hope without offence, it is a feare of Gods anger, and of imminent danger for communion with, and connivence towards hereticall and wicked men; and I brought examples, and ſayings of John the Evangeliſt, of Polycarpe, Hilary, and Ierome to that purpoſe, which you take no notice of at all; but ſay, ſuch feare is onelyonly warrantable in the Church, not in the world; but for that there is a remedy that men may ſeparate from Church-Communion; but what if many will not, as the weaker and looſer ſort are as ready to runne to hereticall Teachers, where they exerciſe, as the people of Iſrael to the Idolamous worſhip of the golden Calves; and ſhall ſuch be ſuffered to … them that through the ignorance of their minds, or unrulineſſe of then luſts are willing to be ſeduced? Will your conſcience with the Papiſts tolerate the Stews, not in the Church, but in the Citie? it is not ſo broad, nor looſe I hope; no more ſhould it be ſo indulgent as to allow of inducements to ſpirituall whoredome,… which is as dangerous to men, and more diſhonourable to God: The Angel of the Church of Epheſus, I am ſure, is commended by the Holy Ghoſt becauſe he could not beare them which were evill, Revel. 2.2. and for h… ting the deeds of the Nicolaitans, verſ. 6. as on the contrary the Angel of the Church of P…ga… is blamed for ſuffering ſuch as held the Doctrine of Bala…m, and thoſe that held the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans, verſ. 12.14, 15. and ſo is the Angel of the Church of Thyatir… for ſuffering the woman J…bal, which …lleth her ſelfe a Propheteſſe, to teach and ſeduce the ſervants of the Lord, verſ. 18.20. and if ſuch ſeducement may be as dangerous to many where heretiques teach in corners, as where they are admitted to officiate in publique Churches, that muſt be no more endured then the other.
And for that you ſay of plucking up the tares before the harveſt, it makes nothing againſt the caution I meane, which is not to extirpate all heretiques out of the world, but to put ſuch a reſtraint upon them, that they may not have power to ſeduce ſimple ſoules to ſuch pernicious errours as may endanger them upon eternall damnation; and yet I hope you doe not meane but ſome wicked men may be ſo wicked, and ſo deſtructive in their principles and practices to Religion, and States, that it may be lawfull not onelyonly to keepe, or put them out of all Church-Communion, but to take them quite out of all communion in the world, by capitall puniſhment, elſe you will have the Civill Magiſtrate to beare the Sword for naught, againſt the determination of the Apoſtle, Rom. 13.